1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireline operations during the drilling and production of oil and gas wells and more particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for collecting and containing well fluids and lubrication fluids that are removed or thrown off of a wireline stuffing box during wireline operations.
2. General Background
In the oil and gas well drilling and production industry, various operations such as depth determinations, crooked hole tests, temperature and pressure surveys, and setting, retrieving and manipulating various tools in the wellhole require the use of wirelines. When retrieving the wireline from the well, the well fluid or lubrication fluid clinging to the line drips or is thrown off of blocks and pulleys. Also, when lowering the wireline into the well hole, excess lubrication fluids are stripped from the wireline by the packing in the stuffing box and allowed to build up externally to the well hole, thereby creating a safety, maintenance and housekeeping problem in the area of the wellhead. In the present state of the art, various methods have been used for wiping or cleaning the wireline.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,427, issued to Crump, discloses a cleaning unit for braided wireline comprising two semi-cylindrical housing parts which are hinged together to form the unit. The unit has an annular nozzle chamber which surrounds a section of the cable to be cleaned, a plurality of nozzles within the chamber for directing jets of high pressure oil onto the surface of the cable at an angle and a spin-off chamber for receiving the oil and impurities from the cable. The spin-off chamber has a plurality of veins for directing the oil and impurities to an outlet from the unit. There is also a traction unit comprising a pair of pulley wheels for driving the unit along the cable.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 29,493, issued to Crump, discloses a cleaning unit for braided wireline having an annular chamber adapted to surround a section of cable to be cleaned, a plurality of outlets located within the chamber through which jets of high pressure fluid are directed onto the cable and a mechanism for withdrawing fluid from the chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,866, issued to Blanton, discloses a rectangular shaped frame having a lubricator canister removably coupled thereto at one end. At the opposite end of the rectangular shaped frame, is an upper slide assembly which rotatably supports a die. The wireline passes through the lubricator canister which applies lubricant cleaner to the die. The die, which has a plurality of internal spiral grooves adapted to fit the spiral strands of the wire cable, then cleans the wire cable and removes from the wire cable the excess lubricant applied thereto. The device teaches taking excess lubricant away at the rig floor level.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,029,062, issued to Dippman, discloses a housing containing liquid which travels with the lubricator and recirculates the excess lubricant for reuse.
Also used in the industry is a housing with an internal split neoprene rubber plug which has a threaded bolt adjustment that compresses the rubber plug until it envelopes the line and strips it of all fluid. This type is usually used in conjunction with the floor block or pulley frame. Other types of wireline cleaners are built on the principle of a stuffing box with a packing and adjustable nut to determine the degree of cleaning.
A problem not addressed by the art is that of well fluid or lubrication fluid which remains on the wireline after passing the stuffing box when the wireline is being withdrawn from the well hole and is thrown off of the wireline by the pulley above the stuffing box. The same problem exists when the wireline is being lowered into the well hole and the lubrication fluid which is not removed by the line wiper at the rig floor block and pulley may be thrown off the wireline onto the surrounding work area as the wireline passes over the pulley adjacent the stuffing box. Any remaining lubrication fluids are then stripped from the wireline by the packing in the stuffing box and released externally of the well hole.